Two letters from Kimba schoolgirl Edie Rayner — who offered to bake biscuits for any doctor who came to work in her town — influenced his decision to cut back on his work in Tumby Bay, where he has been the GP for around 30 years.

"It really just demonstrates the degree of frustration and disappointment those people have in country areas that don't have a doctor," Dr Fleming said.

"I have some compassion for people in Kimba. I really feel very sorry for these isolated rural towns that have got nothing.

"I'm diabetic so I can't eat Edie's biscuits but … I'll be sharing my bikkies with the staff."

"The pattern that we've seen in towns where doctors have been recruited, is that the recruitment process … is often upwards of 12 months."

Dr Lewis, who is also a GP at Wudinna, said the region was the worst-affected in the state by the shortage.

The town of Cowell on Eyre Peninsula's east coast also has no resident GP, instead relying on visiting doctors from Whyalla.

"This is the epicentre of the rural doctor workforce shortage in South Australia," Dr Lewis said.

"As much as we think it's simple when we're living in these areas — because we see the inherent attractiveness of where we live — to recruit an outsider that hasn't experienced that is very difficult."

New plan is no quick fix

The State Government released a draft plan to tackle the shortage last month, conceding there are "acute shortages" of clinical staff in country areas.

It aims to expand the training capacity of rural hospitals and develop a rural generalist training pathway.